CHILDREN'S video games should carry killer warnings because they can cause epileptic fits, an expert has warned.

Youngsters between the ages of seven and 19 are most at risk.

Professor Graham Harding found FOUR popular Nintendo games contain flashing and repetitive light patterns that could possibly cause fatal seizures brought on by photosensitive epilepsy.

He said: "Seventy-five per cent of those at risk will not know they're photosensitive until they've had their first fit."

Prof Harding, of Birmingham's Aston University, is calling on the makers of the games - MegaMen X, Mario Kart Double Dash, Mario Sunshine and Metroid Crime - to stamp prominent health warnings on all computer game boxes.

And he wants safety guidelines introduced identical to those that British broadcasters follow.

He said: "The industry should apply these same guidelines because they have been shown to work. Then the risks would disappear."

His warnings to parents go out tomorrow in the BBC3 programme Outrageous Fortunes - Nintendo. He has developed a new machine to test problems in video games and says that warnings in literature inside games boxes are inadequate. "There is a warning inside the box, but it is in very small print and hardly the first thing a young child would go for. It would be better if the warning was on the box."

Scientists have established a clear link between video games and epilepsy. In 1993 a Government inquiry warned up to 150 victims a year could be affected. Nintendo said they would evaluate anything that would reduce the risk of seizures.